Hmmm.......... no word of a lie my pre match prediction, if I'd got round to posting it would have been something like: "This will be a real test of our credentials to emulate last seasons sixth place finish after recovering from a poor start etc etc, Bellamy's nailed on to score, - 1-1." Unfortunately I didn't put a bet on it. Very much a game of two halves as far as we were concerned. In the first half, as in the second against Wigan, we played some of our best stuff under Hughes and had Liverpool chasing shadows. Had a couple of marginal offside situations gone our way Liverpool would have been going in at the interval 3-0 down. In the second half we just didn't play. We seemed to sit back at the start of the half anticipating a Liverpool onslaught and never quite managed to get our game clicking into gear again. Perhaps we lacked that final bit of self belief to go out and finish the job in the second half after a superb first half. The first 45 minutes from Bentley were his best in a Rovers shirt. Ooijer put in a much improved display, Savage was immense and the front two caused Liverpool all manner of problems during that opening period. The two substitutions were no surprise, the game was far too fast for Tugay and completely passed him by whilst MGP had another one of his invisible days. He really doesneed to find another gear whereby he puts in a passable shift on the days when he doesn't manage to conjure up a wonder strike out of nothing. Overall though it was a very encouraging performance the team just need to have that little bit more belief in their own ability so that we can finish the job off when we get into a dominating position.

Having the benefit of watching the game live on TV, I thought Clattenburg got most of his decisions wrong yesterday, Savage's first yellow was in fact a superb intervention in which he got the faintest of touches on the ball and the yellow card was an absolute travesty. That said, having got an unjustified yellow in the first place, he should have received a second yellow for a crude challenge, but didn't, so it evened itself out. The push by Hypia was an absolute nailed on penalty imo - no doubt about it whatsoever. Neill's booking came about after a foul by Pederson I thought. And the worst tackle of the day on McCarthy which resulted in him briefly limping off went unpunished.

I didn't think he made a boo-boo for the second Fife, the bobble was one of those things you can't legislate for and you haven't time to react. (Remember Tim Flowers down here v Liverpool?) I thought he was badly at fault for the first though. Should have been a routine save, but he got caught hopelessly in no mans land and it looped in. Other than that he kept us in it. Although I suppose you could argue that without either of the two alleged bloopers we'd have played badly and come away with a 0-0.

Amen to that Colin, most sensible comment on this thread. Cheer up guys, it's only England, the real football starts again at Anfield on Saturday. I did get a bit more excited pre World Cup than usual this year because we should have had a good chance of winning it with the players available. But on the whole I can't care the same way for players who I despise the rest of the year when they are turning out in a ManUre/Chelski/Liverpool/Spuds/Newcastle shirt against the mighty blue and whites. A couple of words on McClaren: He's not my favourite but a slight sense of perspective is required. We were crap under Sven, but the fact we appear to be even worse under McClaren doesn't mean that what went before was any good. Whither the universally renowned tactical genius "El Tel"? McClaren should however be sacked summarily if he is preparing his way via Max Clifford for Beckham's return. He made exactly the right decision originally, Beckham is history as far as England is concerned and that's the way it should remain. That had nothing whatsoever to do with it. It was the FA's cack handed timing of the approach.

Fair point.

I received a flyer for this on Friday and whilst I think the card is an excellent idea, and whilst the flyer was very witty it's a complete waste of time and money mailing it out to me as a ST holder. Unless we're trying to downgrade ST holders. If 12,000 flyers were sent out to ST holders, that's more than 3k alone wasted in postage without the cost of the leaflets themselves. Surely the Club's database is capable of differentiating between ST holders and occasional walk on fans? Or did someone in the marketing department not think to apply the relevant filter?

Not my understanding of the rule den - I thought the rule was that if the ball was played forward there had to be two opposition players e.g. keeper + one defender between our player and the bye line for it to be onside. Whether McCarthy was behind the ball or not is irrelevant if that's the correct interpretation. I might be wrong, perhaps some rules boffin could clarify!

He wasn't onside imo because the ball travelled forwards and Roberts and McCarthy were the two players furthest forward apart from Kirkland. Still, as others have said, who cares? Eh????? "Best passage of play in the second half since Sparky took over at the Club" ??????

In your usual rush to have a pop at me, you've made several unsubstantiated assumptions above. I've never once said League games should be priced at 15 quid but I certainly don't think any of them should be priced at 36 quid. Not with the ground a third empty. I actually think the cheapest games are slightly too cheap but that the categorised pricing should be scrapped until the ground is full or nearly full again. A standard price for all games which won't instantly put people off is what is urgently needed. People should be coming down to Ewood to watch us not the opposition.

Sorry Stu, I thought you were referring to today's game and that we had 5k home walk ons today. As for ST numbers it was around 12k last season and we are cryptically told numbers have "increased" but as far as I know the club have never divulged actual figures and I doubt it's 14k. We probably had considerably more than 7k walk ons on Thursday night as not every ST holder would have been able to attend.

Don't know what Sparky says or what he puts in the half time tea on the Sunday after European games but it certainly works. Just as against Man City we weren't really at the races first half, but were much improved in the second. In fact today in the second half I thought the passage of play from half time until the Wigan penalty was the best since Sparky took over at Ewood. Completely exhillarating. Unfortunately however we couldn't make our breathtaking build up play count and it looked as if we were going to go down to a completely undeserved defeat when we conceded a penalty with 12 minutes to go. Fortunately Jason Brown made a superb double save and we got slightly lucky with the winner which was undoubtedly offside at the point when Roberts passed to McCarthy. Against that we spurned a couple of one and ones which would have made the scoreline more convincing. I was really impressed with McCarthy today. We all know he has the talent, but until today I was wondering if he would fancy it in January or February, whether he had the physical strength to be a huge success in the Premiership. Well on the basis of today he has. He added real strength and power to his silky touches in a very impressive performance. Of the other strikers Jeffers had a poor first half but produced a superb lay off to Bentley for the first. After that in the second he looked a completely different player, with some superb play. And Roberts whilst obviously not completely match fit had the Wigan defenders bouncing off him. He'll be a real handful when he's completely up to speed. So overall, poor first half, superb second, and it's particularly pleasing to be sitting one point above Liverpool in the table. The one downside was the performance of Oiijer who I thought had a mare today, letting Heskey get in front of him for the first and conceding yet another penalty which could or perhaps should have led to a defeat. He's had half a dozen games or so to settle in now and looked ok against a side offering no physical threat in Salzburg but I don't think he's quick enough or strong enough for the Premiership. How many more games are we going to have to carry on making excuses for him? Not a patch on Todd imo.

--> QUOTE(Ste B @ Oct 1 2006, 21:22 ) 449146[/snapback] Perhaps if you got off your arse and contributed something to BRISA rather than bitch about it on the internet then BRISA would be able to. Why, is it up to me personally?

Rubbish, What was the gate today? About 17k of which 1500 - 2k ish were from Wigan. (They voted with their feet as well) So straight away we've lost at least 4,000 walk on fans because of the ridiculous pricing today, probably more as not every ST holder would have been able to attend on Thursday night. We seem to be making a misguided attempt to defy the law of supply and demand and it's backfiring disastrously. People aren't that stupid and no-one is going to pay 36 quid to go in a ground that's nearly half empty. It would be a different matter entirely if the ground was full or nearly full. We are driving support away in their droves with this categorised pricing. When are BRISA going to get their act into gear and campaign strongly against the current pricing policy?

I think there are already signs that this season might be one too far for the great man, I'm sure next season definitely would be.

Are we still doing the prediction League? Have to say for me this match falls into the "must win" category whether we're looking to get to 40 points as quickly as possible, trying to retain our UEFA spot or looking to improve slightly to push for that magical 4th spot. However it's the sort of fixture on the back of a good run we'd have made a complete horlicks of under Souness. Tomorrow will tell us a lot about the mental toughness of the players under Hughes. Another thoroughly professional display and 2-0 win. (Hopefully)

Completely agrre Ste. Just wonder after tonight though if this season the League might be the "bread and butter" and the Uefa the "icing on the cake"

OK don't wish to be rude but I still think nearly 19,000 home fans for a game which is being televised live on a Thursday night is a reasonable efort. And I thought the atmosphere throughout was a lot more upbeat than previously this season.

I think that the atmosphere for the League games so far this season has been as dead as a dodo but for tonight's game it was completely different, very good.

Why don't you bog off and support someone else then?

It was rocking towards the end!

Fantastic night all round. Good performance, we were never in any real danger, and Sparky obviously thinks we can make a real impact this year. I was just thinking Bentley had had a poor first half with his delivery and he screams goal of the season in. Excellent crowd for a televised game with no away following - obviously only superstella's mates didn't turn up. Ooijer got the Peter Jackson mom award but I thought Emerton walked it. MGP had a scintillating second half which makes you wonder why he looks like he's never seen a football before when he's off his game. The most important thing was that there was a real feel good factor at the ground again for the first time this season. Edit: Oh and walked into the Pub after the game and Howard Walker was with Angus loughran aka statto of Fantasy Football League fame. Quite surreal.

It's not "the truth" it's only your opinion! I repeat, if someone has bought a season ticket and chooses not to go tonight that's their prerogative, no-one else's. In exactly the same way if they've bought a season ticket, and choose not to attend a particular League game that's their choice as well! What are you going to do, put them up against a wall and shoot them?

What a pile of crap, if anyone has bought a season ticket then it's entirely their prerogative whether they turn up tonight or not. Personally I find it slightly strange that someone might not take advantage of a free game, and I wouldn't dream of doing that personally but not everyone's the same. In the general scheme of things, would we take an extra 5k season ticket holders who however opted not to go tonight - you bet we would. There will be some people for whom it is genuinely inconvenient being on a Thursday evening but I expect those fans and those who can't be bothered going to be in a relative minority. If the gate is around the 12k or 13k mark i'll be the first to admit it's a poor turn out but let's put the usual self flagellation routine on hold until we know what the actual attendance is! It may not sound much but a gate of around 20,000 would be a huge result for Rovers tonight - about 8,000 walk ons or in other words about 5000 more walk ons than for the City game. Or in percentage terms an increase of of 166%. P.S. The Telegraph aren't exactly helping, no mention of cheap tickets in today's 3 page Euroopean review but a section headed "Rovers hit big screens" highlighting the fact we're on British Eurosport.

Everyone seems to have very low esteem on here. Whilst we are in the Premiership we are not a small club we are a big club in a small town. No shame in that whatsoever nor in not being able to attract 40,000 gates. Our six fingered rivals from a bygone era down the M65 falll into the "small club" category. And for the sake of argument a club like Wycombe are a smaller club still.

If my memory serves me correctly Kinghorn first appeared briefly on Talksport as a spokesman for one of the internet betting firms (Blue Square?) and to be fair, he was very impressive in that capacity. He must have impressed sufficiently to earn a presenting slot. But I agree with everyone else. He's a very poor presenter. Mike Parry and Adrian Durham can just about get away with adopting an outrageously daft point of view in order to encourage a lively response. Kinghorn can't, he comes across as much too intense and seemingly takes himself far too seriously. Not keen on Graham Beecroft on Brazil's show either. Sounds like he's been to the Alan Partridge school of presenting. Brazil and Mike Parry were very good together. My favourites are Hawksbee and Jacobs. I find them absolutely hilarious. Yet if one of them is off and someone else stands in with the other it just doesn't work at all.